“My final year project looks to revive the almost lost concept of the family business within Newhaven Town. Although not in the traditional sense, instead reinventing each of them as a series of portable ‘shops’ individually designed using nostalgia.”

Can you tell us about the work you’re showing in the Graduate Show?

“Through much of the 20th century, Newhaven was filled with local family businesses all working together to help shape and build the town that currently stands. However today, with the loss of these businesses, it has become somewhat of a ghost town. I hope that by reintroducing these local family businesses into the town it can help revive the lively nature and close knit communities that made the town great. With my proposal, the Newhaven community will be able to found, build and run their own portable town.

The architecture within the project was inspired and designed by looking back at Newhaven’s history. Analysing the individual shops, both historic and present, allowed me to distill down what the town is made of (materials, forms, ornamentation etc) and then using these distilled ‘components of architecture’ I could then incorporate them into the proposed design. Using these components creates nostalgia within the new architecture, subtly bringing back the past while still keeping it within the present setting.”

Can you explain a little bit about your process?

“Much of what I draw and create stems from model making. The world works in 3D and as much as I can I try to incorporate that into my work. Each drawing starts with a concept or plan and from there I can build up the components needed to fully visualise it in 3D. Sometimes that can be as small as a backdrop or collaging materials all the way up to full large scale proposals. From here I am then able to photograph, draw over and add to each of them. Whether this be a pen and ink drawing, collage or other medium completely depends on the drawing/project but I feel that by working in 3D, myself and others can much more naturally understand it. ”